


If Wishes Were Fishes

by screamingarrows



Series: You're My Brother [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Kid Fic, hinted Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski, protective papa!stilinski, set before the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 02:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamingarrows/pseuds/screamingarrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Scott doesn't have a good time with his father and stays with the Stilinski's</p><p>-----</p><p>“Hey, it’s Melissa. I’m sorry for calling so late, and I hate to ask, but is there any way you could watch Scott tonight?”</p><p>The Sheriff frowned at the wall in front of him. “Yeah, sure. I thought Scott was going to his Dad’s for fall break?” </p><p>“Yeah, so did I.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Wishes Were Fishes

**Author's Note:**

> scott: age 10  
> stiles: age 11

The phone rang; the noise shocked the Sheriff awake from his nap on the couch. He stood and rubbed a hand over his eyes, then walked to the kitchen. He cleared his throat and answered on the second ring. He glanced at the clock above the stove. 8:50, it read. Not too late but late enough that the Sheriff knew this wouldn’t be a social call.

“Sheriff Stilinski speaking,” he said curtly into the phone. There was a hitch on the other end and the Sheriff frowned.

“Hey, it’s Melissa,” her voice was quiet and rushed, “I’m sorry for calling so late, and I hate to ask but is there any way you could watch Scott tonight?”

The Sheriff frowned at the wall in front of him. “Yeah, sure. I thought Scott was going to his Dad’s for fall break?” He rubbed the back of his neck. Stiles has asked for Scott to come over weeks ago and it had been planned. They boys were excited and then Agent McCall came into town and insisted he get Scott for the week. Rather than fight, Melissa made Scott reluctantly change plans. Both boys had been upset but there really wasn’t much room for argument, not that they didn’t try.

“Yeah, so did I.” Her voice was hard and the Sheriff felt anger coil in his chest.

“Do you need me to come get him?” She didn’t respond and over the line he could hear three high-pitched beeps.

“You need to wear your seat belt,” he chastised gently, playfully. She huffed a laugh and he imagined he could see her reaching over to pull the belt across her chest, holding the phone between her cheek and shoulder.

“I’m a few minutes out, I’ll see you.”

The Sheriff nodded, “We’ll be here.” He hung the phone up and rubbed his face again, tried to force the sudden tension out of his shoulders.

“Hey Stiles,” he shouted up the stairs. He heard Stiles’ door open and then Stiles was peering down the steps. He raised his eyebrows and the Sheriff gave him a small smile.

“Scott’s coming over, so make sure you’ve got a spot for him.” (Their code for get your toys off the bed and shoved in the corner.) Stiles’ answering grin was wide. He nodded and dashed back to his room. The Sheriff could hear him tossing things against the wall, overshooting the toy chest.

“Be careful! If I find any holes in that wall that’s where you’ll be sleeping!”

“I can’t sleep in a hole, Dad!”

The Sheriff snorted but he didn’t hear any more banging. He walked into the living room and began to tidy up the room until he heard a knock at the door. He walked over and opened it, revealing two frowning McCall’s. The Sheriff stepped back and let them in. Scott had one large duffle bag carried in both hands and he was frowning down at the floor. The Sheriff ran his hand through Scott’s wild hair and nudged him toward the steps.

“Stiles is waiting for you.” This brought a small look of relief in his sad, angry eyes and he darted up the stairs. His bag bounced against the wall and the railing as he ran and the Sheriff looked after him fondly before looking back at Melissa.

Her lips were thin and the muscles in her jaw clenched and unclenched. Her eyes trailed after Scott and darted around the room before they landed on the Sheriff and she relaxed.

“Do you want some coffee or something?” He asked and nodded in the direction of the kitchen. A small smile parted her lips and she shook her head.

“Thanks, but I have to get back to work. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.” She shuffled her feet but made no move to leave. He leaned against the door awkwardly.

“You sure?” He asked after she stood there for a few more minutes in silence. She blinked out of her stupor and shook her head again.

“No, I’m sorry, I just. What kind of man does that? Insist on having their son for the week and then just, canceling. He dropped Scott off at the hospital,” her eyes met the Sheriff’s and they were hard. He could see the anger boiling under her skin and he raised a hand to rub her arm.

“I-I’m sorry. You’re not my therapist,” she forced herself to laugh weakly. The sound was upsetting.

“No, I don’t mind. We’re friends, right?” He raised his shoulders and lowered his head to look into her eyes. She smiled, this time it was genuine, and the Sheriff smiled back.

“Yeah,” she answered back and the anger wasn’t as sharp in her voice.

“Go back to work, Scott’s fine here, and if you need anything, just call.” There was a promise hidden in his words and she felt her chest loosen fractionally.

“Thanks. I’m sorry again.” She turned and walked out. The screen door shut slowly behind her and he pulled it so the latch locked. He offered a one handed wave as she reversed out of the driveway and closed the door once she was on the road. He could hear the boys upstairs as they talked quietly to themselves and he started up the stairs.

He knocked on the side of Stiles’ open door. The boys looked up at him, their expressions too serious for their childlike roundness. He gave them the best smile he could muster and leaned in.

“Scott, have you had dinner yet?”

Scott shook his head and the Sheriff nodded.

“Alright, well, we’ve got hot dogs and macaroni; sound good?” That wasn’t what they had for dinner, Stiles has become very opposed to eat any processed meat after watching a documentary on them one Saturday when the Sheriff was outside, but it was one of Scott’s favorite meals. Scott nodded and giggled at Stiles’ disgusted look.

“Do you even know what’s in a hot dog?” Stiles asked incredulously. Scott grinned.

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

The Sheriff took his leave as Stiles began to go into the details of what exactly goes in processed meat.

Downstairs he put two hot dogs in a cup of water and placed them in the microwave before readying a bowl of noodles. It took all of five minutes for the supper to be done, and before he put the hotdogs in the macaroni, he cut one side into strips, turning it into a 6-legged octopus. He hadn’t done that in a few years, but when he called them down and Scott saw them, he grinned and sat down to twist the hot dog into the macaroni.

Stiles was still grumbling about the hot dog and Scott looked him in the eyes before biting into his food.

“ _Scott_ ,” Stiles whined. He reached toward Scott’s bowl and swiped his finger along the rim, scooped up some noodles, and stuck them in his mouth.

“ _Stiles_ ,” Scott mimicked the whine. The Sheriff raised his brow disapprovingly at Stiles before he walked out. He sat on the couch and turned the TV on, but kept the volume low so he could keep an ear on the boys. Stiles was rambling on a mile a minute and Scott was giggling and adding in his own opinion on whatever topic Stiles was talking about. It wasn’t long before he heard the chairs scrape against the linoleum and the sink squeaked to life as someone rinsed out the bowl.

“Wash your hands,” he called out. He heard them sigh before both shouting back, “Okay,” at the same time.

He waited until they’d run upstairs and their chatter filled the top landing before he stood and made his way to the kitchen to clean up. Thankfully there wasn’t too much mess, a smear of cheese on the table and a lone noodle in the floor. He grabbed a napkin and wiped the cheese off the table and floor and pitched it in the trash before he started on the bowl and fork.

Once that was done he idly walked back into the living room. He didn’t have anything to do and he flipped through the channels in boredom.

It was a few more hours until it was silent. There was no gradual descent into quiet, just loud child play to the sudden peaceful buzz of sleep. The Sheriff turned the TV down further and flipped through infomercials. He could hear Stiles’ snores and wondered how on Earth Scott managed to sleep next to that. Maybe Melissa should have his hearing checked…

He stood and stretched. His back popped and he reached for the remote with a frown. His finger was over the power button when he saw a small shadow was standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the yellow kitchen light. The Sheriff jumped in surprise and then frowned as the TV light bounced off the frowning face.

“Scott? Buddy, what’s wrong?”

Scott shuffled into the room and the Sheriff sat down. He patted the cushion beside him and Scott sat on the edge of the couch. He stares blankly at the TV screen for a few commercials. The Sheriff let his eyes stray back to the TV but he kept glancing at Scott out of the corner of his eye. When Scott suddenly took a deep breath, the Sheriff turned and focused his attention on the small boy.

“Do you think my mom’s mad at me?” His voice was small and he looked down at his hands, picking at the skin around his thumb nail.

“I know she’s not,” the Sheriff said immediately. Scott looked over at him and then looked back down. “Why would she be?” He pried. Scott tensed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Scott?”

“I make my dad angry,” he said instead. “That’s why he dropped me off. He said I make him angry. I don’t wanna make mom angry too.”

“Scott, I know for a fact that your mom’s not angry at _you_.” Scott nodded absently and the Sheriff longed to pull him into a hug. His shoulders still sunk, though, as if someone was pressing down on him from behind the couch.

“You wanna talk about what happened with your dad?” He asked softly. Scott looked up at him and narrowed his eyes in scrutiny before nodding.

“You won’t tell mom?” Suspicion and anger wound its way through the Sheriff’s body and he had to work to keep his breathing slow and even.

“Not unless I have to,” he settled on. Scott took a deep breath and clenched his fists.

“He was just… I don’t know, making jokes, I guess, about how I shouldn’t let my asthma stop me from doing sports. But then, he started saying that Mom should do better, that she wasn’t raising me like a man and she was an inept mother. I don’t even know what that means but I knew it probably wasn’t nice, right?” Scott paused his onslaught of words to look up at the Sheriff. He had scooted closer to the Sheriff unconsciously during his explanation. He was in arms reach now and blinked owlishly again in the dim light. The Sheriff frowned and shook his head.

“No, it wasn’t very nice.”

“And so I accidentally yelled at him and then he... we just started yelling.” Scott finished abruptly.

“Scott,” the Sheriff said gently, his anger barely constrained. He wrapped his arm around Scott's narrow shoulders. “What did he say.” 

_"Don't talk about her like that!"_

_"Do not shout at me! You used to show me respect!"_

_"You used to deserve it!"_

“He just said that I used to-to be a better son but now…” Scott trailed off and the Sheriff squeezed his shoulders, encouraging him to go on.

_“You’re just like your mother! Smart mouthed and you don’t know a damned thing about how lucky you had it. Look at you, huffing and puffing,” his father laughed. “So damn proud. What are you proud of? What do you have to be proud of?”_

“He said I was becoming like Mom, but that’s not a bad thing is it?” His voice hitched and Scott looked up with tears in his eyes.

“Oh, son,” the word slipped out but Scott launched himself at him as soon as he heard it. The Sheriff tightened his arms around his shaking frame. He let Scott cry into his shoulder before pulling him back. Scott sniffled and tears still leaked down his face. He wouldn’t meet the Sheriff’s eye so he used his fingers to tilt Scott’s head up.

“Scott, you listen to me. Your father’s wrong. You are a wonderful son, do you understand me? You’re mother is so proud of you and it’s never a bad thing to be compared to her. Okay? There is nothing wrong with you, and there is nothing wrong with your mom.” He tried to put as much force as he could into the words, willing Scott to believe _him_ and not his father. Scott nodded and more tears fell from his eyes. His chest hitched and the Sheriff let him bury his head in his neck.

“I-I wish you were my dad,” Scott mumbled against his neck. The Sheriff’s hands froze before he  continued to rub soothingly on Scott’s back.

“I know Kiddo,” he murmured back. He continued to rub Scott’s back until he felt his breathing even out. He tilted Scott’s head back to confirm he was asleep then let it fall back onto his shoulder. He stood and balanced the unfamiliar weight awkwardly on his hip before turning the TV off and making his way upstairs, flipping the light switch to the kitchen off as he passed.

He toed Stiles’ door open and laid Scott down on the free side of the bed. Stiles had kicked all the blankets off, as usual, and the Sheriff leaned down to pick them up. He draped the first sheet over both boys and then pulled the second, heavier sheet only up to their knees. He leaned across Scott and kissed Stiles’ forehead and pulled back and kissed Scott’s.

“Goodnight boys; sleep well.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I really hope I didn't make anyone too OOC
> 
> And yeah, I know Agent McCall seemed kinda harsh, but I was drawing off of my own parents divorce and some of the stuff my father has said to me. As I got older he got kinder and eventually apologized about everything but it still made our relationship tense, similar to the tension between Scott and Agent McCall, so that's that. 
> 
> I'm thinking about adding on a second chapter of just fluff and bonfires and more Melissa/Sheriff fluff so just let me know if y'all would be interested in that.


End file.
